Is that blood?
by RavenStark
Summary: Raven Stark is a quiet girl with a few good friends. Little does she know some of those friends have plans for her...   OC, high school AU.  Rated M just in case.
1. Chapter 1: Raven

**A/N: Hello, everyone! This is my first fanfiction in this fandom, so please don't be too harsh with me.**

**Assassin's Creed is property and copyright of Ubisoft.**

**[PROTOTYPE] is property and copyright of Activision/Blizzard.**

**Please read and review!**

Desmond smiled at the Indian music that the teacher's aide was playing through her pink iPod. It made him think of Altaïr, and he looked across the room at the Arabian teen to find him writing furiously, his eyes closing every so often at the otherworldly tune filtering through the room. The cousins had the luck of being put in the same class, but the misfortune of being put in assigned seats.

Desmond kept free writing, but only because he had to, and high school was a good cover for an Assassin. Desmond did wish they were doing an activity that was a little less... revealing... other than these silly "me bags", but he'd been a good student and put together some stuff anyway. He'd grabbed the keys to his Kawasaki, his phone, and a picture of him and his cousins, Altaïr and Ezio. He hoped it would be enough to earn him a passing grade on this assignment.

Altaïr watched each student go up and present their bags of whatever-they-were. He was supposed to be keeping his eyes peeled for possible new recruits for the Order, and as Al Mualim said, "You never know where they will be hiding, but it is up to you to find them." The immensely short teacher's aide called a girl to the front of the room. The girl looked annoyed at having to tell the class about herself, but Altaïr saw the nervous glances she cast at the exits, as if she were a caged animal looking for the way out. He watched her walk- no, glide- to the front of the room, and she seemed to compose herself as she faced the other students, and more importantly, the teacher. She put her bag on the desk in front of her and began to pull things out of it.

"My name is Raven Stark," she began, not looking at the teacher or anyone else. She continued to rummage in the bag, as though being in front of a class and talking to no one in particular was something she did every day. Raven finally pulled a blue book out of the bag and held it up for everyone to see. "This is my sketchbook. I'm never without it." She went to pick up a journal, and a pencil flung itself from the spine and flew behind her. She easily caught it behind her head, and then carefully slid it back into her bag.

Altaïr glanced across the room at Desmond, and gave him a look that plainly said, 'Did you see that?' Desmond nodded quickly, watching the Stark girl return to her seat, just in time to see his cousin give a rare smile and mouth, "Do you think we should try her?" Desmond smirked in reply.

He knew exactly what Altaïr was getting at. Desmond had never seen any of the Assassin recruits walk with so much grace. Granted, it would take a lot more to satisfy Malik, their mentor, that Raven was a potential recruit. They would have to speak with him before they could approach Raven with any kind of proposition, but they would need more evidence. Also, the important thing was to not blow their cover before they asked her. Desmond knew Ezio would have fun with this; Ezio always had a way with girls.

Raven blinked. She'd ended up at the door to the cafeteria, barely noticing where the stampede of students led her as she was caught up in her own thoughts, ideas and snatches of music rolling through her brain. Blinked again, harder this time. Someone was blocking her way into the lunchroom. It was her friend and neighbor from Programming; black-haired, headphone-wearing, techno-punk Rebecca Crane, leaning against the door frame with a silly grin on her impish face. When Raven came to a stop in front of her, Rebecca stepped in front of her, grabbed the strap of her bag, and practically dragged her down a side hallway.

"Becca, where are we going? It's lunch time. I'm hungry." Raven was used to her friend's antics, but she'd never deprived her of food before.

Rebecca stopped once they were far enough away from the stream of students entering the lunchroom that no one could hear them, her head bobbing back and forth to the music only she could hear.

"I haaaave a seeeecret,"she sang, to a now thoroughly irritated Raven.

"What. You got a new computer? Elvis is back?"

"Nope and nope. It's even better than that!"

Raven aimed a kick at Rebecca's shins, the silly deejay laughing at her attempts to make her talk.

Giving up, Raven finally asked, "All right. What is it? Seriously, I don't have all day."

Rebecca sighed and said, "Well, everyone knows your birthday is coming up..." she trailed off.

Raven nodded, genuinely confused. What was so funny about a birthday?

"Okay, I'm not supposed to tell you, but we're getting some people together from school, and..." Rebecca let the sentence fragment hang in the air.

A sense of dread pooled in Raven's stomach.

"_Rebecca Crane!_ I told you, I don't really like big crowds of people, and a whole party of people around me, and all of them wanting to ask me questions about... God only knows what, how well do you think that'll go?" Raven frowned, irritated that her friend would even seriously consider something like that.

Rebecca looked a little sheepish now.

"Yeah, that's what they said, too," she said slowly, looking at something behind Raven.

"'_They?_' Who's they!" Raven was dangerously quiet now.

"That would be us," a deep, Italian accented voice boomed out from right behind her.

Raven whirled around, instantly pissed that Ezio was involved; she'd had a crush on the Italian in the seventh grade, but she had moved on when she realized that everyone else liked him, too. But, as usual, Ezio was right- he wasn't the only one standing there, grinning like a fool.

It was Altaïr, the ever indifferent-looking Arabian boy from her Language Arts class. Raven stared at him. The cold amber eyes stared back.

"It was mostly my idea though, Rebecca was just looking for an excuse to gig a party," Ezio explained, making Raven pull her gaze from Altaïr to focus on him again. An awkward silence sat between them, Raven looking from Rebecca to Ezio to Altaïr.

"What is it, _bella_? You look like you're waiting for someone to jump out and go, 'Boo!'" Ezio laughed when Raven's shoulders finally relaxed, and she looked relieved.

"Well, I've never thrown a party before..." Raven mumbled, looking embarrassed.

Rebecca was shocked. "N-never, ever? But, your dad throws parties all the time!" she spluttered.

Raven kicked at the floor with her boot. "Yeah, but that's Dad. I usually hide in his workshop with my laptop whenever he has a party. You know I hate crowds, Becca."

"Hmm. Well, this is a predicament," Ezio began. "Do you want a party? Even though it won't be a surprise anymore?" he glared at Rebecca for spoiling their secret. Rebecca pantomimed running away and hiding behind Raven.

"I guess, as long as it's not at my house." Raven grinned ruefully.

Altaïr's eyebrow quirked. "But I thought your parents love to throw parties. So what issue would they have with you celebrating your birthday?" the quiet Arabian politely asked.

"Seriously! What's the problem with that?" Rebecca agreed, Ezio giving his trademark smirk.

Raven couldn't look at Ezio when he did that. It was a brain-melter, that look.

"Well, my dad, he tends to. Well. It's not that I don't want him to find out, but-" Raven struggled with a way of explanation, but Rebecca cut her off, finally realizing what the problem was.

"Ohhh! Your old man loves to party _too_ much! You're afraid we'll go overboard, and he will too, is that it?" Rebecca smiled knowingly. Tony Stark's (no relation to the weapons mogul) parties were legendary.

Ezio made an 'oh' sound as Raven agreed. Altaïr grinned suddenly.

"What?" Raven was getting creeped out by this guy; he was too _quiet!_

"I know how we can solve this conundrum," the quiet boy said.

"What? What can we do, now that I've really screwed things up?" Rebecca was getting interested now, even pulling off her headphones so she could hear him better.

"We _could_ ask Mr. Stark to help us plan the party, but maybe we could also ask him to leave Raven out of the loop, so it's still a surprise party, even if she knows about it already." Altaïr finished.

Ezio began to laugh excitedly, clapping Altaïr on the back. "An excellent idea, _fratello_! Hey, _idiota_, watch where you're going!" Ezio stepped out of the way of a group of sophomores trying to get to their next class period. Raven and the gang didn't have a class next period, because seniors were given an extended lunch. Recovering from his 'ordeal', Ezio addressed Raven, "_Cosa ne pensi, bella_?"

Raven remembered that phrase. It meant, 'what do you think?'

"Well, I..." Raven hesitated, looking around at Rebecca and the _fratelli_ Auditore. Rebecca pulled a puppy-dog face, Ezio looking hopeful. Altaïr as impassive as always.

"I suppose." Rebecca hugged her tightly, while Ezio declared, "Excellent!"

Altaïr just pulled his hood off of his head, but Raven knew he was hiding a smile.

**END CHAPTER ONE**

**Italian translations-**

**(I hope I have these right)**

**Bella- beautiful**

**Fratello/fratelli- brother/brothers**

**idiota- idiot**

**Courtesy Google Translate.**

**Okay kids, that's all for now! Also, I will be writing Alex Mercer into the next chapter. Please, please, please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Raven & Alex

**A/N: Hello, everyone! This is my first fanfiction in this fandom, so please don't be too harsh with me.**

**Assassin's Creed is property and copyright of Ubisoft.**

**[PROTOTYPE] is property and copyright of ****Activision/Blizzard.**

***Note* This is the updated version of chapter two. It's still the same as before, but with Alex's POV added on to the end.**

**Please read and review!**

Releasing Raven, Rebecca said,"You're sitting at our table today, Rave. No sitting on the floor, being emo all by yourself."

Raven blinked. "Okay. If I have to, I guess." Before the sentence had completely left her mouth, she was more or less dragged (again) through the doors of the cafeteria, the harsh lighting and loud conversations assaulting her senses. Altaïr and Ezio trailed behind, trying to keep up. Rebecca finally came to a stop at a table occupied by two more boys; one was Desmond, that somewhat loud kid from her Language Arts class, and the other was a bespectacled boy with ginger hair typing rapidly away at a laptop, stopping every so often to look annoyed at something Desmond was saying. Raven had a feeling he was in her Calculus class, but his name escaped her. She didn't have to wonder long, because Altaïr stepped in front of her and forced the boy's laptop shut.

"Shaun. We have a guest," he informed Shaun, giving Desmond a meaningful look as he did so.

Shaun pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and glanced at Raven.

"Ah, yes. The Stark girl, Raven, is it?" the English accent surprised her. "So nice to meet you, I'm Shaun. Can I have my computer back now, please?" he asked politely, staring pointedly at Altaïr. Desmond snorted. Raven got the idea that there was definitely a love/hate relationship going on between them.

Altaïr just smirked and and wordlessly released Shaun's laptop. Shaun snatched it off the table and stowed it in his bag, while Altaïr took that opportunity to sit next to him, much to Shaun's discomfort. Rebecca grabbed Raven's arm and half pushed, half dragged her to the seat next to Desmond. "Sit," she ordered.

"Yes, Mother," Raven retorted.

Ezio watched all of this carefully, and was about to sit down when a soft voice asked, "Is it okay if I sit with you guys?"

All eyes turned to the newcomer, a boy with cropped, soft brown hair and gray-blue eyes. Raven knew instantly who it was; Alex Mercer, the new biology wizkid transfer from New York. She'd gotten the lowdown from eavesdropping in the girl's restroom earlier that day.

_"He's so cute, and I heard he's some kind of genius, or something. And he rides a Yamaha to school! I wonder who he'll ask to Homecoming?"_

Another girl had said," _ I doubt he'll ask anyone, Chelsea. Didn't you see what happened when I tried to introduce myself? He just _stared_ at me! God, I was so embarrassed! Ooh- where _did _you get that lipgloss?" _He'd only arrived in Burbank a week ago, but by that time everyone was talking about him_, _so every little bit of information anyone had dug up was common knowledge by now.

Desmond waved his hand in front of Raven's face, dragging her back to the present. Raven registered that Ezio or somebody must have invited Alex to sit down.

Raven looked around. "Hey, where'd Ezio go?"

Desmond smiled. "He went to get food for everybody. I told him to grab a salad for you, is that okay?" Alex peeked at her from around Desmond's shoulder.

Raven was a little taken aback. "How'd you know I'm a vegetarian?" Desmond chuckled at the look on her face.

Shaun snorted. "Well, if you get the same thing every day, it's kind of obvious."

"_Shaun! _Be nice!" Rebecca looked positively murderous.

"Or what? You'll throw your turntable at me? Oh, no..." Shaun put his hands on his face and pretended to be scared.

Rebecca growled but didn't say anything else.

Ezio returned with the food, and begin passing it out. He passed slices of pizza to Rebecca, Shaun and Altaïr, while he slid containers of salad at Desmond and Raven. He placed a hamburger in front of Alex, and returned to his seat holding only an orange.

Raven tore into her salad like she'd never seen food before, until she felt something jab her shoulder. Something fabric-like... she turned and saw that it was Alex's jacket brushing against her arm as he poked her. He had an amused look on his face.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

Alex smirked. "No, but... slow down. Wouldn't want ya to choke, or anything."

"...oh. Okay." Raven made a point to slowly chew her food and swallow in a very exaggerated manner, which made Alex laugh and lightly shove Desmond's shoulder.

"Dude, she's hilarious. She should sit here every day." Altaïr and Ezio gave identical grins, and Desmond said, "So should you, Alex."

Alex's eyes went wide in mock surprise, he gasped in said in a silly voice, " But, that would mean I'd have _friieeeeeeends..._"

Rebecca cackled madly, beating everyone else and causing the group (and the next table over) to stare at her.

"What? I thought it was funny." Rebecca pouted when no one responded.

Ignoring that comment, Raven made a quick decision. "Alex," she waited for him to finish his bite of hamburger.

"Yes, Raven?" Gray-blue eyes regarded her as she chose her words.

"Would you like to come to my surprise party?" she watched his face as she waited for his answer.

"How is it a surprise party if you know about it?" he asked her, a confused look on his face.

"I didn't do it." Rebecca said in a small voice.

"Yes, you did." Desmond and Ezio said at the same time.

"Will you come?" Raven asked again.

"When is it?" Alex actually looked interested.

"In two days," Rebecca offered. "At Rave's house. What are you driving?"

_That's a good question, _Raven thought. _I'll know what to look for._

"An FZ1. Candy red." Alex's eyes lit up when he said the words. Desmond smiled, being the gearhead that he was.

"What in the blazes is an FZ1?" Shaun asked causticly.

It was Alex's turn to get nasty. "A motorcycle," he remarked coldly.

Shaun quailed under the frigid stare he got for insulting Alex's 'baby'.

"And a very good one, too." Desmond added, causing a little of the color to come back into Alex's face. He didn't look quite so scary that way.

Raven felt that now would be a good time to break things up.

"Okay, then. I'll see you there, Alex. And everyone else, too." Raven smiled around at her group of new friends, got up and walked out the door. The bell rang just as she reached it, signifying the end of senior lunch. It was time to go back to class, and Raven was grinning like an idiot.

Update goeth below!

Alex watched Raven leave, wondering how a person as nice as her could be so quiet all the time. He got up with the rest of the students, pushing and shoving hands almost setting him on edge, but a firm hand grasped his collar and began leading him out a side door. He fought for a moment, twisting to see who it was. Desmond. _Oh. Good._ Alex relaxed when the herd of students was no longer around him. "Um, Desmond, you can let go now." Alex smirked at Desmond, who quickly let go of Alex's hoodie.

"Sorry, man. You were beginning to scare me back there, you looked, like," Desmond kicked the ground, trying to think of a word, "I don't know, _panicked. _Didn't want you puking all over someone or something crazy like that." The scar that slashed through the boy's lip twisted whenever he talked.

Alex smiled, but inwardly cursed himself for showing that he was scared. "Naw, I'm okay. Really." _I'm not even human, so how can I feel fear? Whatever. I'll have to ask Dana. She's human, after all, she'll understand._

His thoughts wandered for a minute, and Desmond backed off a bit, to let Alex regain some composure after his mini panic attack. _I wonder why Raven invited me to her party? She doesn't even know me. _The virus combed through the memories of all the people he'd consumed, trying to discern if inviting complete strangers over to your house was a normal human custom. Finding nothing of importance that gave him a definite answer, Alex turned to Desmond.

"Are you invited to Raven's party, too?" Alex hoped he was. He didn't want to go alone and feel left out if no one talked to him.

Desmond looked back at Alex; he'd been watching the hall monitor try and break up the massive knot of kids all trying to get out of the door at once. If something didn't happen soon, there was going to be a fight. "What did you say, sorry?" Desmond apologized.

"It's alright. I said, are you invited to Raven's party, too?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be in charge of the food. At least, that's what Ezio said, I'm not sure. Either way, I'm definitely going. Why?"

Alex shrugged, trying to look indifferent. "Well, I don't think I'll know that many people there, so-"

"You don't want to feel left out." Desmond finished for him.

"Yeah, exactly." Alex was relieved that Desmond got it. He didn't want to look stupid.

"You wanna meet somewhere beforehand? We could show up together." Desmond grinned in that maniacal way he usually reserved for when he was talking about his Kawasaki. Alex caught that and said, "Sure. There's just one thing, though." he put on a serious face.

Desmond looked confused, that scar distorting his mouth again as his wicked grin faded. "What?"

"Can you keep up?"

Desmond busted out laughing. "Oh, that's funny. We're gonna be great friends, I can already tell."

A stream of Italian curses issued from the door they had left behind, followed by a couple cries of "Allah, _move!_ " reminding Alex that Altaïr and Ezio were still trapped in the throng of students. Desmond ran over to the mass of jostling bodies, trying to help free his cousins. Alex stood back and watched Desmond dive into the crowd, vanishing into the fracas. He darted back out, dragging a very disgruntled-looking Ezio by the arm, who had an annoyed Altaïr by his hood. Desmond rejoined Alex with his cousins in tow. Alex raised his eyebrows at Desmond's crazy family members. Altaïr muttered something about needing to go to class. Alex agreed; he and Altaïr had the same Geography class.

"Well, that was interesting, but I think I should go to class as well. Wouldn't want to get _Messer_ da Vinci _too _angry at me," Ezio shrugged, turning and walking away from the others without saying goodbye, leaving Altaïr and Alex to head off to their class, Desmond tagging along.

Alex turned around, realizing Desmond was still there.

"Des, what are you doing? I thought gym was that way," Alex pointed back in the direction of the cafeteria.

"It is, but I don't want to go today. I'd rather just skip and hang with you guys." Desmond scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.

"You can't do that, Des. Mr. a-Sayf won't allow you to skip." Altaïr reminded his younger cousin.

Desmond frowned. "But-"

"No."

"Fine. I guess I'll go to Gym, then." Desmond turned and walked back through the now mostly empty hallway.

Altaïr stared after him, making sure Desmond went where he said he was going; he had a tendency to go where he wasn't supposed to.

Alex watched this exchange, amused when Altaïr turned to discover him still standing there. "Shall we?" Alex gestured in the direction of Geography class.

"Hm. I suppose," Altaïr growled.


	3. Chapter 3: Raven and Alex

**Author's Note: Well, here we are again! Sorry that it took so long to update. It just so happens that this thing called **_**real life**_**got in the way of finishing this. Again, just want to mention that the Assassin's Creed universe is property of Ubisoft, and that all [Prototype] characters and situations are property of Radical/Activision. (whichever it is. I've seen it as both) Please don't forget to review if you want this story to keep going. Also, there will be a bit of an opinion poll at the end of the chapter, so I need your input more than ever! Not a very action-y chapter, but I hope you will all enjoy reading it! Enjoy!**

"Try this one." Rebecca held up a sparkly pink mini dress with black lace trim.

"Um, I-" Raven could barely say a word before Rebecca tossed it down onto the growing pile on the fitting room floor.

"Nah, I didn't think so either. Pink's not really your color, is it?" Rebecca shrugged and reached for another dress.

"Rebecca, can't we slow down, just a little? I'd like to at least _see_ one of the dresses before you reject them all." Raven smiled at her friend's perky attitude, but was getting irritated that Becca wouldn't let her have a say in what to wear at her own party. She suspected that Rebecca was doing it to maybe clear her Karma for spoiling the surprise of the party. Rebecca gave Raven a look of mock-horror. "Slow down? Why would I do something like that?" she smirked, rummaging through the mountain of dresses Raven had picked out in their lightning run through the store.

It was Saturday, and the party was set for the following night. Rebecca and Ezio had no issues convincing Raven's dad to let them have the party at the Stark residence; he even wanted to invite some friends from work! Raven scoffed at this but in the end her friends agreed that a few more people couldn't hurt. Tony had handed Raven his credit card and told his daughter to go buy something nice to wear for her party, so she'd called Rebecca to help her pick something out. Rebecca was only too happy to offer her opinion.

Rebecca straightened up, fishing out a pretty blue dress. Rebecca looked from the dress to Raven and back again, her grin spreading slowly into a smile. "What?" Raven asked her, wondering what Becca was so happy about. Rebecca thrust the dress at Raven in reply. Raven turned it over to get a better look. It was strapless, with sequins literally covering the top part of the dress. A sash tied loosely into a bow divided the bodice from the skirt, the tails fading into a sea of cornflower blue that was the floor-length skirt.

Giving Rebecca a sideways look, she faced the mirror and held the dress up to her chest. It was beautiful, and she wanted to try it on. Turning back to Becca, she said, "Can you hold this? I want to try it on." Rebecca smiled and said, "Careful, Raven. You might turn into a girl." Raven scowled, but undressed down to her underclothes anyway. She reached for the dress and slid it on, pulling it down over her chest and smoothing out the wrinkles. Rebecca took a step back, and waggled her eyebrows at Raven. "Turn around, turn around!" Becca urged her.

Raven turned toward the mirror once more. The sequins caught the light form the fluorescent bulbs overhead, casting tiny points of light onto the mirror and floor. She pushed her long black hair behind her and pulled it from behind her ears. Raven looked at Rebecca's reflection in the mirror and smiled at her friend. "This one, I want this one." Rebecca snorted and began to giggle. "What's so funny?" Raven honestly didn't know what was so funny, but Rebecca started laughing so hard, she lost her footing and bumped into the side of the dressing room, the wood making a loud THUMP. Rebecca slid down the wall and kept laughing. At this point, Raven couldn't keep a straight face, but she was trying to figure out what had gotten into Becca. "Rebecca, seriously. Just _what_ is so damn funny?"

Rebecca finally got it together long enough to say, "The look you had on your face when you said you wanted the dress. You looked like a- a- I don't know, a shark or something." she dissolved into giggles again. Raven started laughing then. "H-how did I look like a shark?" she said between giggles.

This made Rebecca laugh even harder. Full, foot-stomping laughs that echoed around the small dressing room. "Your eyes! They got so big, you were like, 'This one, I want this one'," Rebecca made her eyes go as wide as they would go, making Raven laugh at the ridiculous face she was making. Both girls were on the floor, laughing hysterically until a soft knock at the door made them jump and sober a little. Raven peered at the bottom of the door and saw a pair of brown penny loafers attached to beige slacks. A female voice floated through the door. "Is everything all right in there, ladies? It sounded like there was an elephant loose in there!" The girls looked at each other for a moment before Raven finally said, "Yes, we're fine. We're clearing up now." The loafers turned and walked away.

Rebecca handed Raven her street clothes, and Raven began to change into them as Becca gathered up all the unwanted dresses and placed them on the rack outside the dressing room door. Raven was just lacing up her boots as Rebecca came back inside the room and handed Raven her purse and the dress. She was practically bouncing as they walked toward the checkout lanes, and smiling brightly as Raven handed over her dad's credit card to the bored-looking cashier. As they were walking out, Raven finally asked Rebecca what she was so happy about. Rebecca just smiled and said, "We've got the dress. And I'm staying at your place tonight to help you get ready and to decorate the house," she paused for dramatic effect.

"Uh-huh," Raven urged her on as they made it to her car and got inside.

"Sooooooo, you can't get away from me. I get to do your hair." Rebecca grinned triumphantly.

Raven just rolled her eyes and started the car, and they headed home to get started on all the preparations.

Alex had no idea why he wanted to go to the Stark girl's party. He was sitting alone on the roof of the apartment building he lived in at the moment. He had to be careful whenever people tried to be friends with him and invite him to things, because Gentek could crawl out of the woodwork at any moment and try to capture him to turn him into their lab rat. It was the whole reason he had moved to Burbank in the first place, to get away after he had blown cover last time. He'd had to leave his sister Dana behind in New York, with a small supply of wigs and other things to disguise herself with. Her parting words were still fresh in his mind, repeating over and over again. '_Be careful who you talk to. Stay hidden. And Alex, for God's sake, _don't _lose control of the virus. If you infect anyone, or do anything suspicious, It'll make it easier for Gentek to find you.' _

Alex _had_ been practicing; trying to keep the virus under control, but sometimes when he got really angry or anything like that, it would start doing things by itself. Despite the fact that the virus made him feel like a monster (because he wasn't the same Alex Mercer he used to be), he tried to be more human, if only to keep his cover. Posing as a high school student was easy if you could manipulate your own body to look however you needed it to. It felt strange to the twenty nine year old virus to be posing as a seventeen year old, but he was used to it now. He dropped the form when he wasn't at the school, reverting to his original form when he was alone.

The virus prickled under his skin suddenly, trying to warn him of something. He turned slightly to see fingertips on the far edge of the roof, and heard soft grunting noises as the owner of the fingertips attempted to scale the roof. Reacting quickly, Alex rolled to the side to hide behind an air conditioning unit, the virus shifting flesh and bone to look like the seventeen-year-old Alex again. He had a feeling that someone from school was trying to come up there. He flipped on his thermal vision to see if he could tell who it was.

First, all he could see was the dark blue of the air conditioning unit, but he focused a little harder and watched as a mass of oranges and reds pulled itself onto the roof, and waited there. He could tell that the person was male, and that he had just run for quite a distance. The person wasn't short of breath, but appeared to be looking for something. _Or someone, _he thought, noticing that the person's eyes glowed a bright white. Alex switched back to "normal" vision, and carefully peeked around the AC unit. It was Ezio Auditore, that Italian boy from school. He was crouched on the edge of the roof, staring in Alex's direction, a slight smirk on his face. His eyes- _That's odd, I thought he had brown eyes. But his eyes are almost yellow, like that Alta__ïr kid._ As he watched however, Ezio's eyes changed from yellow to brown, and Ezio sat on the roof, still smirking in Alex's direction. _My eyes change color, but that's because of the virus. So what's _his_ excuse?_ The virus urged him to find out, writhing slowly under his skin until he slowly moved from behind the air conditioning unit. "Ezio Auditore?" he asked, making the younger boy chuckle.

"Ah, _salute _Alex! I thought it was you hiding over there." He grinned and stood up to walk over to where Alex was sitting.

The memories from the people he'd consumed told him that Ezio had just said hello, and the virus came up with an answering phrase that nudged at the back of his brain. Alex decided to forget Ezio's weird eyes and just go with whatever the virus was trying to get him to do, at least for the moment.

As Ezio sat next to him, he said, "_Non mi era nascosto._"

Ezio's eyes (strange or not) went as wide as saucers. "_Perbacco, non pensavo tu sapessi parlare Italiano , non l'avrei mai immaginato?_"

Alex smiled. "I speak a lot of languages. I travel a lot." That part was true, but he'd only left the country once. He learned languages from the memories of the people he'd consumed, not because he'd wanted to learn it. It was just second nature to him now.

Ezio chuckled, and Alex thought he detected a knowing gleam in Ezio's eye.

"So do I. I knew there was a reason I liked you! _Fantastico_!"

Alex frowned. "What was that look for?"

Ezio stopped smiling and looked at Alex. "What look?"

"When I said that I travel a lot. You looked like you thought I meant something else." Alex's senses are on high alert. If Ezio was some kind of Gentek spy, then he'd have to kill him and run. Or at least consume him. If he knew something important, it wouldn't be right to waste that.

Ezio folded his arms across his muscled chest. "I know all about you, Alex Mercer. Me, Desmond, Altaïr, Shaun, and probably Rebecca, too. You don't have to hide anymore." Ezio smiled cautiously, knowing Alex was on edge.

Alex tried to keep calm. "How. How do you know?"

Ezio smiled for real now. "We are _Assassini. _We know that you're running away from the Gentek. And we know that we can help you hide. We're on the same side, Alex."

Alex calmed down visibly, but he still didn't quite believe Ezio.

"Does anyone else know?" he asked abruptly.

"No," Ezio assured him. "Not even Raven knows. She doesn't know about the Assassin's, either."

"What do assassins have to do with-" Alex stopped as memories flooded into his brain, flashing words at him like _Templar, Assassin, Eden_...and finally, _Abstergo_. He saw that Abstergo was a parent company of Gentek, and that Abstergo agents had been searching for him all along the West Coast for the past two months, since he'd left New York.

Alex grinned ruefully at Ezio. "I suppose we _are_ on the same side. So, I guess we are _fratelli_ now?"

Ezio smiled at Alex and reached for a handshake. When Alex took his hand, Ezio chuckled.

"_Sí, _I think we are." Out of habit, Ezio said, "Nothing is true."

It surprised him when Alex answered it, saying, "Everything is permitted." He slowly shifted into his original form, watching Ezio's face for any sign of fear. He didn't want to scare his new ally, regardless of how much Ezio claimed to know. Ezio only smiled and whistled softly. "It'll take much more than that to frighten me, _fratello_." Alex narrowed his eyes a little, but snorted down at Ezio anyway. He was now about four inches taller than the Italian Assassin.

Ezio jumped off the roof, Alex right behind him.

"Let's go. We have to make this official."

**Translations**

"_Non mi era nascosto._" **[I wasn't hiding.]**

"_Perbacco, non pensavo tu sapessi parlare Italiano , non l'avrei mai immaginato?_" **[Wow, I didn't know you could speak Italian, I never would have imagined?]**

"_Fantastico!_"**[Fantastic!]**

_Assassini_** [Assassins]**

**Now, we get to the fun part. I need your help deciding which comes next.**

**It's a bit like those Choose Your Own Adventure novels, really.**

**The options I've come up with are:**

**Raven is waiting for everyone to show up at the party, and Abstergo agents show up and kidnap her and Rebecca, forcing the rest of the gang to go after them, and bringing Gentek and Robert Cross into the story be default.**

**Everyone shows up at the party, and the party goes well, save for some uninvited guests in the form of Templar agents in the form of the multiplayer characters. (This chapter might be written from either Templar or Assassin POV, maybe both if I feel up to it ^^)**

**I know it's not much to pick from, but this is all I've come up with, and I have great ideas for both of these. I can't wait to hear from you guys (the one comment I've gotten so far was very supportive!)**

**Love from Raven ^^**


	4. Chapter 4: The Party!

**Author's Note: Wow. I seriously have not submitted something for this in a long time. I am so sorry about that. My fault. Feels like forever. A funny thing happened: this thing called **_**being grounded**_** was actually helpful in making this chapter what it is now. As of the date of submission, I have done so much re-writing for this chapter, that I feel like I've written it three times over. To be honest, there were actually some doubts in my mind on where to take this chapter, but in the end I decided to stop acting like an old woman and just wrote it the way I thought made the most sense. I loved writing a couple of these scenes, and others I ground my teeth the entire time because those stupid plot bunnies were luring me with the promises of candy corn and Monster. So yeah. Enough of this chatter. Please, don't forget to review! And I love criticism of any sort, so don't hesitate to tell me how ya feel! **

Faustina moved through the crowd with all the grace and poise of the Assassins she'd been ordered to take out. Her orders were to detain the Stark girl, and take down as many Assassins as possible in the process. She had shed her usual outfit of black pants and white t-shirt in favor of the more formal outfit of a teal blouse and black pencil skirt that Cesare had bought for her. The formal clothes allowed her to blend in with the party-goers around her, and the light brown wig that covered her short blonde waves made her incognito to the entire room, save for one person. Even in the dim lighting, she caught glimpses of a black tuxedo and a green and blue striped tie through the crowd every so often.

Raven was having a blast. She couldn't believe that her friends had manged to turn the drab foyer of her house into a bass-thumping rave. There were so many people there, which she suspected had something to do with the Auditore boys being so popular. She was chatting with Ezio, the mastermind of the party, who had to almost yell to make himself heard over the music, making her laugh by pretending to get drunk off the non-alcoholic punch. He staggered into her, his face red from stifling the laughter that threatened to bubble up when he was trying to be "serious". Raven laughed as they almost knocked over the food table.

Cesare had ordered Cahin to accompany Faustina as her "date", and the dark-humored Templar seemed to be playing the part well as he practically glided up to her, his dark hair shining in the strobe lights. He slid an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"There are three of them in here," Cahin whispered in her ear, smiling to keep up the charade. "One is with the target, and the other two are the crowd." Faustina could hear the smile in his voice, and although she would've sliced his face for getting that close to her any other time, she giggled like the normal teenager she appeared to be and turned to kiss him on the cheek. "_Grazie, fratello_. Where is the target now?"

Faustina took Cahin's lightly calloused hand so he could lead her to where Raven was. He guided her through the thrashing bodies until they were a short distance away from the refreshment table. Cahin squeezed her hand and nodded in the direction of the punch bowl, where Raven could be seen chatting animatedly with the one and only Ezio Auditore, working the crowd and being the ladies' man as always. Faustina was excited, now that she knew bringing the girl back to Cesare might actually pose a challenge and not be a _complete_ waste of her time. She longed to be the one to kill him, to be the one to tell Cesare about the look on Ezio's face when she sliced right through his-

Cahin was squeezing her hand, more urgently this time. She looked sideways at him and he tilted his head, motioning for her to look behind them. She quickly looked over her shoulder just in time to see none other than Cesare Borgia himself, walking through the Stark's foyer. She turned back to face their target, ignoring her "boss" for the moment. Faustina was disgusted that Cesare had actually shown up, as if he didn't believe that she and Cahin could actually accomplish the task that he had set for the two Templar agents.

Cahin was looking sideways at her, waiting for her to make the first move. This was _her_ mission, after all. She smiled at him and led him into the dancing crowd, away from Cesare. She pulled him close and mimicked the movements of the surrounding teens, giving Faustina a chance to tell him,

"I'll distract Ezio. You get the girl out of here, and we'll meet up with Cesare outside. How's that sound?"

Cahin grinned at her briefly and danced (if that's what teenagers actually do) with her, leaning closer and said, "And what of the other three _Assassini_? Am I supposed to take them all on by myself?" he didn't show it, but Faustina could tell he was feeling a bit apprehensive. She winked at him and gyrated her hips to the beat of the too-loud music, saying, " Relax, _fratello_. We're not the only snakes in the pit tonight. Fiora is here, and Il Lupo is waiting outside just in case. Remember, Cesare wants this girl _alive_."

Faustina broke away from Cahin, and they both walked away in opposite directions through the crowd. She made her way over to where Ezio and Raven were standing, reaching into the pocket of her skirt for her knife. She walked around the table until she was positioned behind the assassin, so she could have the first move and take it whenever she liked. Faustina felt the blood pumping through her veins, the anticipation of it all causing a slight adrenaline rush. There was a small bench behind her, and she sat on it to look less suspicious. She watched Ezio surreptitiously; chatting with Raven and pouring punch for the sweaty people that meant nothing to Faustina except as hiding spots. She was waiting for the right moment...

Desmond felt that something was wrong as soon as he and Alex showed up at the party. He stepped off his Kawasaki, eyes scanning everything around them. Alex instantly noticed that Desmond was acting strangely. "What's the matter? You got a stomach ache?" he grinned uncertainly, puzzled. He had no idea what the symptoms of a stomach ache _actually were_, but he assumed that's what it would look like. There was only silence from Desmond as he pulled off his helmet and he flipped on his Eagle vision; the world was suddenly gray and white with spots of bright colors. Whitish-blues that signified hiding spots, bright blue streaks that showed where his allies were, masses of greyish blobs that showed where the "civilians" were, and-

"Exactly as I thought," Desmond said as his vision switched back to normal. He opened the small trunk on the back of his bike and stowed his helmet. He pulled his knife out of its special slot in the leather seat and offered it to Alex, who was still sitting on his Yamaha. Alex's icy blue eyes narrowed at the knife, but he curled Desmond's fingers back around the handle. "You keep it. Mine's bigger," Desmond looked confused, but grinned and put the knife in his pocket. "How many are there and where are they?" He continued simply in a low voice.

"Four inside and one out here. And he's close by." Desmond motioned at the Stark's house, and Alex got off the bike, switching to thermal vision, and turned in the direction Des had indicated. He saw a world of faded purples with myriad shades of reds and yellows. He hated warm days; they always interfered with being able to see things properly- but then he finally saw what Desmond was talking about. A bright streak of orange and red, lurking in a huge oak tree that was partially leaning against the house. "There you are," the virus murmured to no one in particular. "So," Alex said, flipping back to normal vision so Desmond was properly colored, "Do we take him out now, or later?" Desmond grinned at him.

"You go inside. I'll take care of him. Tell Altaïr-" Desmond was cut off when he noticed someone climbing out the window nearest to the oak tree, and pouncing on the Templar, making them both fall out of the tree, and they could be seen struggling in one of the Stark's flower beds. Alex recovered first. "I think he already knows. Let's get inside and take care of the rest." He took off running toward the house, his arm shifting into a mass of red and black tendrils for a moment until they hardened and turned into a long wicked-looking blade, not stopping until he ran through the open door.

Desmond was frozen for a moment, but then quickly ran after the virus, smiling to himself as he thought, _He wasn't kidding. _ As he got closer to the house, he heard screaming and had to fight the stampede of people that were running as fast as they could out the door and towards their cars. When he finally made it inside, Desmond could tell there was a fight going on. There were still a few people hiding in the coat room that were too scared to leave, and there was broken glass all over the floor. A woman with long brown hair and a ripped teal blouse came at him out of nowhere, brandishing a knife at his midsection. Des easily sidestepped her and shoved her in the side, so that she was caught off-balance and fell into the staircase, her knife slashing at the carpet instead of Desmond.

He ran up the stairs past where the woman had fallen and was surprised that she didn't try to cut him, but quickly looked back and saw that she had hit her head on a stair and was lying motionless, her brown wig lying next to her revealing her natural blonde hair.

Desmond made it to the top of the staircase and wasn't surprised to see Ezio holding his own against a man dressed in a tuxedo, the man's nose bleeding down his chin and onto his tie. He hurried over to help his cousin, folding his hands together and swinging them hard into the back of the man's head, distracting the stranger long enough for Ezio to grab him by the shoulders and give him a quick headbutt. The man slumped to the ground, holding his head and swearing profusely in Italian. Desmond looked at his cousin, and saw that Ezio looked visibly shaken, but he wasn't letting whatever had happened affect him now.

Desmond heard a gunshot followed by a shrill scream from the other side of the house. The cousins took one look at each other and wordlessly ran to search for the source of the noise, leaving the man on the ground. They tore through the house at top speed. He saw Rebecca fighting a girl that he knew was Fiora Cavazza, but he barely had time to wish her luck in even in his mind, they were running so fast.

Altaïr joined them as they ran, sporting several bruises and a nasty cut on his face, but they didn't seem to be bothering him much. Desmond could hear crashing noises just before they reached the kitchen, and the three of them burst through the swinging door to find Alex facing a triumphant Cesare Borgia, who had a gun to Raven's head and was trying to pull her out the back door. There was a man lying on the floor at Cesare's feet, the hole in his forehead oozing blood and eyes glazed and staring at a spot near the kitchen table. Cesare tore his haughty gaze from the dead man to look at the three cousins, his ebony hair hitting Raven's face. Raven stared at the dead man with wet eyes. "Dad," she muttered. Cesare looked at the girl he was holding with something like disgust. "Quiet, girl, or you'll join him." A smirk settled over his face as he looked up at the three Auditore boys."Well, if it isn't the _Assassini_, come to save the day!" He redoubled his efforts to drag Raven out the door. Raven looked like she was trying to be brave, but Desmond could tell that she'd been crying, her eyes and nose red and puffy-looking.

Alex stepped through the doorway, his eyes flicking from Desmond to Raven, before resting on Cesare, carefully analyzing the situation. "Let her go, Borgia. It's not her you want, anyway." Alex's arm was shifting back into his regular arm, but there were still tendrils running along his arms and shoulders, ready to shift back at a moment's notice.

Cesare stopped and said with a raised voice, "Come any closer,_ virus_, and she dies, _ora_!" He pushed the gun more firmly against Raven's head, the barrel leaving a dent at her temple. Ezio suddenly brought his arm up to waist height and flicked his wrist like he was spinning a Frisbee. Blood splashed the immaculate tile floor and Cesare grunted and bent slightly to pull the knife out of his side, and shoved Raven out the back door without warning, into the arms of the blonde-haired woman Desmond had fought with earlier. She smirked and put the barrel of a tranquilizer gun on Raven's neck, and with a soft _thunk_, Raven slumped forward, motionless.

Cesare turned toward the Assassins, focusing mostly on Alex. "You don't know how wrong you are, Mercer," he smirked, and ran out the door, scooping Raven off the ground as he went.

_Ora-_Now

**Thank you in advance for reviewing, and thank you to all the people who have reviewed so far or added me to their subscription lists! I really appreciate the support, it makes me want to write more!**


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